Parent Testimonials
We have had an outstanding experience with the kindergarten program at Riva Trace. The teachers and staff create a supportive, and engaging environment where our daughter feels safe, valued, and excited to learn each day. In addition, the teacher to student ratio is very low, which allows for immense student growth in a short period of time.
Our child has grown tremendously academically, spiritually, and socially throughout the year. We greatly appreciate that Jesus and the Bible are incorporated into the curriculum via various avenues such as weekly chapel sessions, Bible lessons, and Bible verse memorization. One of the most remarkable outcomes of the program has been seeing our daughter learn to read so well through the program. We did not provide any formal reading instruction at home, and the progress our daughter made under the guidance of the kindergarten teachers exceeded our expectations. The curriculum strikes a wonderful balance between learning and play, which helped our daughter build confidence and a genuine love of learning.
We especially appreciate the dedication of the staff. It is clear that the teachers truly care about their students and are passionate and knowledgeable about early childhood education.
If you are on the fence about sending your child to the Kindergarten program at Riva Trace, our advice to you would be to apply today! The value of the program is immeasurable!
-The Cavallo Family
This letter is to express how grateful we are for the wonderful experience our child had at Preschool and Kindergarten at Riva. From the very beginning, the school created a warm, caring, and positive environment where children feel supported, encouraged, and excited to learn every day.
The academic foundation our child received was outstanding. We saw growth in reading, language, confidence, social skills, and overall development throughout the years there. The teachers truly care about each child and make learning engaging, meaningful, and fun.
One of the things we appreciated most was how positive and nurturing the school community is. The staff creates an atmosphere where children feel safe, valued, and motivated to do their best. The communication with families and the genuine care shown to every student made a huge difference for us.
We highly recommend The Preschool and Kindergarten at Riva Trace to any family looking for a strong educational foundation and a loving environment for their child.
Our family cannot recommend the Kindergarten at Riva Trace enough. Our son’s year there exceeded anything we could have hoped for, and we are deeply grateful for the strong foundation he received in academics, social development, emotional growth, and faith. From the very beginning, his teachers made him feel comfortable and cared for, and he quickly felt excited to go to school each day. He especially loved the hands-on activities like Kinder Cooking, art projects, and other creative projects that made learning fun for him.
We also really appreciated the weekly communication from the school, which helped us stay connected to what he was learning and feeling throughout the year.
This year has truly been transformative. We have watched him grow into a more confident, independent, and compassionate child with a deeper understanding of his faith and how to live it out daily. Academically, he has developed a genuine love for learning, especially math, and has gained skills we are incredibly proud of, including telling time on an analog clock, writing in cursive, and developing a strong excitement and love for reading. These were all things he could not yet do before starting kindergarten.
We are so grateful for the teachers and staff who invested so much time, patience, and heart into his growth. Riva Trace has given him a beautiful start to his educational journey, and we wholeheartedly recommend it to any family seeking a school that nurtures strong academics, character, and faith in a caring environment.
-The Cusick Family
The Kindergarten at Riva Trace builds upon The Preschool’s goals by offering a program that provides an excellent academic foundation for children who will transition to public or private school, while continuing to foster emotion, social, and spiritual growth.
Kindergarten classes meet Monday – Friday from 9:15 a.m. – 3:15 p.m. Children entering this class must be 5 by September 1.
Along with the Abeka curriculum (handwriting, phonics, some reading, and number writing), we use Science of Reading, Keeping My Kinders Busy Grammar, Social Studies and Science with curricula from Tara West and Karen Jones, and Bible with the Biggest Story. These students will be able to experience a Bible-based, school program five days a week.
The learning experiences at The Kindergarten at Riva Trace are planned to help children move towards the objectives for their individual level. Throughout the year, we will use the curricula to address each of these school objectives through various learning experiences. Children will be engaged in various activities to address their development intellectually, physically, emotionally, socially, creatively, and spiritually.
Language Arts Objectives
Learn and review vowel and consonant sounds, blends, one and two-vowel words, words with special sounds, and sentence comprehension and construction. Gain a firm foundation in reading through stories and word pages. Learn to write letters and what sound those letters make; includes exposure to cursive as appropriate. Learn rhyme and rhythm through poetry.
Math Objectives
Reinforce Number concepts and formations through 100, addition and subtraction combinations, number sequences, number words, telling time, and working with money.
Social Studies
Introduce community helpers, explore native American history along with the beginnings of American history, learn about interesting features of countries around the world, and simple geography and map reading.
Science Objectives
Age-Appropriate exploration of the five senses, weather, seasons, growing things, animals, dinosaurs, geology, and the ocean in correlation with God’s creation.
Creative and Development Objectives
Develops concepts of music, art, and dramatic play. Enjoys listening, moving to, and understanding music; draws and paints using a variety of media; role-plays events from different personal or daily experiences using puppets, costumes, or models of people and animals. Focus on writing readiness, hand-eye coordination, visual perception, listening and thinking skills, and good character.
Spiritual Objectives
Understand that the Bible is not a collection of stories, but God’s unified story of redemption. Help children to understand essential theological doctrines of the Christian Faith. Spend time in both Old and New Testaments, learning key distinctions of each and how they fit together.
A complete list of developmental, literacy, math, science, physical (gross/fine motor), emotional, music, art, and spiritual objectives specific to your child’s age group and class will be given by your teacher at our parent orientation.
Krista Westgate
Teacher
